Sunday Funday

Today I did homework and went running and took a few photos. It was a very quiet and relaxing day. The only day this week that I got to sleep in, sadly. The next few weeks are going to be crazy busy with tests and a concert and Easter and a relatives birthday and a sleepover and spring break! Yay! But here's my favorite pic from the mini self-portrait shoot thingy I did today. :)

The school trip and the plague

Tuesday-

Today we met at the train station at 7 am, which meant I got to get up at 5:45. Then we were on a train until 10:30. We arrived in some little town and rode the gondola thingy up to the top of the mountain where there was a little restaurant. Then we spent 6 hours hiking 14 miles. It was fun, except my feet feel like one big blister. And there was a ton of fog the entire day, so we couldn't see more than 50 feet in front of us, which was a shame because we were on the border to Italy and Switzerland, and if the skies are clear, you can see super far into both countries. But at least it didn't rain, and it was pleasantly chilly. 

We got to a big building right next to anther gondola, then played card games and watched soccer until we went to bed. Then we just sat and talked and listened to music until about midnight. It was an exhausting and awesome day. 

Wednesday-

We got up at 8 to eat breakfast, and then we just sat around listening to music and talking again until we had to leave.

We went down the mountain in an adorable little gondola thing again, and then took the train to a city called Lugano and spent the day just messing around there.

We then hopped on the train and went home. I got home around 8 and didn't feel so good... I went to sleep around 9 and had to get up for school the next day and that's when I realized: I had the plague. (A.K.A. I have a useless cold.)

So that's what I've been enjoying the past two days at school. Everyone gets to enjoy the lovely sniffling, coughing Isabelle. Joy. *cue confetti shower*

But on the bright side, I had "Dönner" for lunch on Thursday. It's this type of meat... That's really yummy... Almost like bacon. With fries. It's hard to explain. Anyways, that was delicious. And apparently all my classmates think it is horrifying that I've never experienced different Swiss specialties, so we have a mini lunch menu thing planned for the next couple of weeks, so that I try new stuff every few days. I'm excited!

First day of school!

Well I survived my first day! (Yay!) 

I had to get up at 6:15 am to catch the train at 7:15 with my cousin and her friends. We got to the school around 7:30, when I promptly got completely confused and had to go to the office to ask where my first class was... So that was fun. 

Something that I noticed right away was that not a single soul talked or whispered or giggled when the teacher was talking (at least at the beginning of the day), and that the teacher was strict. Well, not exactly "strict", but he meant business. 

I technically had German first, but we introduced ourselves and figured out who say where and what was expected of us and so on. Then we went to Geography, which sounds super interesting. It's not really just naming countries from what I can tell, it's more learning about different countries and things like that but we'll see. Then we went to French. That was a wild ride. I understood about two words because I have 1 year of French whereas the rest of my classmates have 4 and the teacher talked a million miles per hour (or at least seemed to). After class I talked to her and she said she'd give me a different book so I can still learn stuff this year-yay! Then we had Physics. I feel like Physics is going to be one of my favorite classes, just because already on the first day we watched a really fascinating short video on comets. Plus the teacher seemed really easygoing. Then we had a lunch break-an entire hour. It was so nice to be able to walk down to the supermarket, buy food, and sit and eat and talk instead of just eating and running to the next class. After lunch, we had Spanish, which I think will also be awesome, because everyone is starting with zero Spanish experience, so I fit right in.  The teacher was very humorous. Lastly, we had "Geschichte" (which literally translated means "stories", so I was confused what it even was) which is History. It was ok. 

After school I had voice lessons. Of course I forgot the name of the teacher once I walked into the music building so I couldn't find her room for a while. Then I finally figured out where I was supposed to be. She said hello to me and then had me sing bent over, with my mouth nearly closed, and not breathing in before singing for the entire half hour.

After that, I wandered down to the tram station and hopped on a tram going back home. Or so I thought. See, to get back home the quickest and most logical way, I would take a tram and then a train. However, I took the tram on the other side of the street, meaning it went in the opposite direction. I was blissfully unaware until about 3 stops later when my stop wasn't showing up on the board. Thankfully, all roads/trams/buses lead to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station in Zurich), so I just took a slightly more roundabout way home. 

Altogether, I think it was a pretty fantastic first day, and I'm super excited for the rest of the year!

Alcoholic beverages?

Today was Dominic's confirmation, and after we went to church, we had lunch with my cousins, cousins-twice-removed (I think), and Dominic's girlfriend. It was fun. And yummy. 

Apparently my mother decided that I was old enough to try a radioactive-looking beverage. It was wacky. I drew my glass some arms and legs and eyes and called it Fred. Fred was yummy.

Tomorrow we leave for Rome! I'm super excited... I don't know what all we are going to do there, but I'm sure it'll be fun.

I miss my friends so much though. :(